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The Changing Face of Evil (episode)
The Breen attack Earth and join the Dominion, the Federation Alliance lose their foothold in Cardassian space and Kai Winn begins to read forbidden texts about the Pah-wraith. (Part 4 of 9) Summary Worf and Ezri Dax return to Deep Space 9 after their imprisonment by the Breen and Dominion. They are greeted by Miles and Julian, who express their happiness that Worf and Ezri are safe. Captain Sisko arrives, wanting to know as much as possible about the Dominion's new alliance with the Breen, just as Kira notifies Benjamin of a Priority One message from Starfleet: the Breen have attacked Starfleet Headquarters in San Francisco, Earth. The relationship between Damar and Weyoun is deteriorating, with Damar feeling that the Dominion is squeezing too much out of the Cardassians. He warns the Breen that they may one day meet the same fate, once the Dominion has no further need of them. Damar has now realized that Cardassia is a conquered planet; he begins covertly plotting the rebellion against the Dominion with Gul Rusot. Benjamin returns to his quarters to find his wife Kasidy trying (but failing) to cook dinner; she has ruined his prized peppers, which took Benjamin three months to grow. With the war turning for the worse because of the Breen, Benjamin asks Kasidy to cut back on her freighter-captaining duties; she declines. Later, an angry Kasidy confronts Benjamin about him scheduling a paid vacation for her, against her wishes. Odo and Quark observe the two arguing, and Quark notes that soon it may be Odo's turn next for marriage, with Kira. On Bajor, Kai Winn Adami withdraws from her regular schedule, asking her aide Solbor to send condolences to the Vedeks. Dukat, still masquerading as Anjohl Tennan, continues to exert pressure on the Kai to release the Pah-wraiths from the fire caves. In order to do this, they consult the forbidden book, the Book of the Kosst Amojan, as well as other religious volumes. While Miles and Julian work on strategies for their Alamo holosuite program in Quark's Place, Worf and Ezri look on from high above in the promenade. Worf questions his newly-found friend Ezri about her feelings, especially regarding Julian. Weyoun notices a change in Damar, namely that he has stopped his heavy drinking of kanar. Weyoun mistakenly believes Damar's sobriety is because of a resurgent optimism about the war; Damar plays along. When Solbor delivers the Kosst Amojan to the Kai, he warns her about reading its forbidden passages. He also begins to openly question Dukat, mentioning his mysterious origins on Deep Space 9. The Kai rebukes Solbor, however, and he retreats -- for the moment -- to allow the Kai access to the book. The book, to the shock of Dukat, appears totally empty, without writing on any kind on its pages. Benjamin apologizes to Kasidy and they reconcile, only to hear more bad news, this time from Admiral Ross, who says that the Breen have broken through the Federation lines at Chin'toka. Benjamin, Kira, Worf, Ezri, Miles, Julian, and Nog all prepare the Defiant for battle, and head off to join a huge Starfleet strike force. Aboard a Jem'Hadar attack ship, the Female Changeling and Weyoun streak toward the same battle. Arriving at Chin'toka, the crew prepare to battle the Dominion and Breen ships. The Defiant is able to destroy a couple of Breen ships, but one fires a strange weapon, which upon hitting the Defiant causes it to start losing power very quickly. The Defiant is continually struck by enemy fire, and can neither return fire, raise shields or even move. Chief O'Brien is clueless as to what is happening, and the Conn explodes injuring Kira. Realising that both the battle and the Defiant are lost, Captain Sisko orders the crew to abandon ship. Julian carries an unconscious Kira to the escape pods, along with the rest of the crew. Captain Sisko stops at the door to look back at the burning Bridge. Chief O'Brien returns, and Sisko comments "She's a fine ship", the Chief won't argue with that, but reminds the captain they have to leave. The escape pods flee the ship just before Defiant is destroyed. The Female Changeling orders that the escape pods not be destroyed, so the survivors will return to Federation space with a frightening, demoralizing outlook, spreading fear about the invincibility of the Dominion (with the Breen at their side). When Solbor tries to remove the books back to the Archive, he is confronted and punched by Dukat, who takes the books back to the Kai. This prompts Solbor to check the background of "Tennan", only to learn that the real Tennan has been dead for nine years. When Solbor samples Dukat's DNA, he discovers Dukat's true identity. When he learns that the Kai is betraying the prophets to the Pah-wraiths, he threatens to expose the Kai, who lunges toward him with a knife; Soldor is stabbed to death in the back. Some of Solbor's blood (on the knife used by the Kai to kill him) drips onto the sacred pages of the Kosst Amojan; a flame briefly appears on the book, afterwhich its text is now plainly visible. While the Kai prepares to continue down the path of serving the Pah-wraiths, Dukat arranges to remove Solbor's dead body. As Benjamin and Admiral Ross discuss the battle and their need to combat the Breen's energy-dissipating weapon, a message from Cardassian space is broadcast to the entire station. Legate Damar, citing a list of complaints against the Dominion, declares his plans for rebellion, calling on all Cardassians to rise up in rebellion. Although this will buy the Federation some time to develop a defense against the Breen, Benjamin realizes that everyone's hopes lie in the Federation re-uniting with Damar and the Cardassians, to save the Alpha Quadrant from the Dominion. Memorable Quotes "Nobody touches my peppers." :- Benjamin Sisko "You're a good friend, Worf" "I know." :- Ezri Dax to Worf "I could be the last Weyoun." :- Weyoun "There's something different about you today Damar, I can't quite put my finger on it... it's almost as if you're half dressed..." "What are you talking about?" "You don't have a bottle in your hand." :- Weyoun to Damar "Kira to Sisko, The Breen have attacked Earth." :- Kira Nerys "She was a fine ship." :- Benjamin Sisko "Poor Captain Sisko. I believe he was quite fond of that ship." :- Weyoun "Don't listen to him! Look at him! Don't you recognize the face of your enemy? It's Gul Dukat." :- Solbor Background Information * The title is a multifaceted play on words: Dukat changes his appearance to Anjohl (read Angel) Tenan in this episode, the Breen join the Dominion, and Damar starts his resistance. * Although referenced on dialogue and computer displays on-screen as having taken part in previous Dominion War battles, the Nebula class starship is finally seen on screen as involved in a Federation Alliance and Dominion battle. Both of the two unnamed vessels are destroyed at the end of the fight along with all of the other ships. No previous Dominion War battle had ever featured a Nebula class vessel taking part - althought the Nebula class was a favourite of the fans and producers alike, and had been a regularly shown Starfleet vessel on TNG, DS9 and VOY. It was felt that the Nebula class was too similar to the Galaxy class which was shown on screen in every other major Dominion battle during seasons 6 and 7. Interestingly, this is only major Dominion battle that takes place during those seasons which does not feature a single Galaxy class vessel. Links and References Guest Stars * Jeffrey Combs as Weyoun * Penny Johnson as Kasidy Yates * Marc Alaimo as Dukat * Casey Biggs as Damar * J.G. Hertzler as Martok * Aron Eisenberg as Nog * Barry Jenner as William Ross * James Otis as Solbor * John Vickery as Rusot * Salome Jens as Female Changeling * Louise Fletcher as Winn Adami References Alamo, Assault fleet; Battle of the Alamo, Bajoran Archives, Cardassian First Order, Cardassian Third Order, Cardassian Ninth Order, Dominion War, Fire Caves, Golden Gate Bridge, Kosst Amojan, Raid on San Francisco, Romulan, Rondac III, Second Battle of Chin'toka, Starfleet Command, Vedek Assembly, Vorta Changing Face of Evil, The de:Im Angesicht des Bösen nl:The Changing Face of Evil